Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined alongside as always by my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague west Hodkuhits were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambau Field and West. At the end
Speaker 1: of this week, the Packers will head west to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles to take on the Rams, the loan remaining unbeaten
Speaker 1: team in the NFL. And they are seven and oh
Speaker 1: and they've looked pretty impressive in getting to that mark.
Speaker 1: They certainly have, Michael. I mean you look at the
Speaker 1: Rams right now in the way that they're built. Everybody
Speaker 1: knew what Sean McVeigh brings the table as an offensive mind,
Speaker 1: and they found their quarterback of the future a number
Speaker 1: of years ago, and Jared Goff Todd Gurley one of
Speaker 1: the prime premier unning backs in this league, no question.
Speaker 1: But what's impressed me the most about the Mike is
Speaker 1: they found ways to complement all those pieces. They found
Speaker 1: some receivers, uh and I think some interesting spots and
Speaker 1: being able to have them come up and make big production,
Speaker 1: big gains in this Andrew Whitworth ends up coming over
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati. All the years he played They're still playing
Speaker 1: at a credibly high all Pro level, even at thirty
Speaker 1: seven years old at left tackle. Defensively, Wade Phillips, that
Speaker 1: big defensive line, it's very difficult to find holes in
Speaker 1: this Los Angeles Rams offense, defense, special teams. They're very
Speaker 1: complete team. Yeah. I think with this offensive system that
Speaker 1: McVeigh is running, it sounds cliche in a sense, but
Speaker 1: but really what they've got in this running back in
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley, you know, to take to steal the old
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson New York Yankees line. He's kind of the
Speaker 1: straw that stirs the drink, isn't he? Because I tell
Speaker 1: you what, when when it comes to the receivers they
Speaker 1: have and Goff and the tremendous year that he is having,
Speaker 1: teams have to focus their attention on Todd Girly because,
Speaker 1: as Mark as Mike McCarthy said on Tuesday, this is
Speaker 1: a guy who can take over a game. And there's
Speaker 1: nothing defenses fear more than getting the ball just run
Speaker 1: down their throats. So you have to find a way
Speaker 1: to contain Girly. But then that does put the ball
Speaker 1: in Goff's hands, and and he's got quite an array
Speaker 1: of weapons. At wide receiver. And we were talking to
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark about this too on Tuesday, and he said
Speaker 1: that the dangerous thing about Girly is he sets everything
Speaker 1: up for them, as you said, sort of the straw
Speaker 1: that stirs the drink. If you start, you know, creeping
Speaker 1: safeties into the box, if you start playing your linebackers
Speaker 1: too far up, well, that's where they make the play
Speaker 1: action game go. They can really threaten you downfield with
Speaker 1: the weapons that they have. Robert Woods has been a
Speaker 1: revelation since he got there a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: We know what Brandon Cooks does. Cooper Cup coming out
Speaker 1: of Eastern Washington, I believe with the red field out there,
Speaker 1: and if I remember correct, you're three guys that can
Speaker 1: all stretch the field on the perimeter. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, if you dedicate too many resources out there,
Speaker 1: start going too much, too high, well and Gurley burns
Speaker 1: you underneath. So it's a it's a really dangerous game
Speaker 1: you have to play when you're playing the Rams. Some
Speaker 1: have done it better than others to the point of
Speaker 1: this season, but you look at a game like San
Speaker 1: Francisco last week with them, I actually think the fort defense,
Speaker 1: you know, it isn't as star powered as it's been
Speaker 1: in the past, but I thought they put together some
Speaker 1: respectable performances this year. The Rams really made them look bad.
Speaker 1: So you know, the the challenge for Mike Patton and
Speaker 1: these defensive coaches defense defensive players is going to be
Speaker 1: trying to find that perfect balance between dedicating enough bodies
Speaker 1: enough resources to Todd Gurley without allowing Jared Goff in
Speaker 1: that passing game to stretch you vertically. Yeah, here's an
Speaker 1: interesting thing statistically about Girlely that I looked up this week.
Speaker 1: He does lead the NFL and rushing yards. I believe
Speaker 1: he's that six eighty six through seven games. But the
Speaker 1: interesting thing about that is in seven games, he actually
Speaker 1: only has a hundred plus yards in three out of
Speaker 1: seven games, which seems kind of odd for a guy
Speaker 1: who's leading the league. But one of those hundred yard
Speaker 1: games was actually a two hundred yard game, And I
Speaker 1: think it's a sign that defenses have, at least some
Speaker 1: defenses have figured out how to contain Girly. But when
Speaker 1: you look at the fact that the Rams overall on offense,
Speaker 1: they're averaging thirty three and a half points a game,
Speaker 1: you look at these wide receivers West You you mentioned
Speaker 1: Woods and Cup and Cooks. Um Cooks has the highest
Speaker 1: yards per catch of the three, He's the most explosive,
Speaker 1: the big play guy. Cup has the most touchdowns. Woods
Speaker 1: has the most yards and receptions out of the bunch.
Speaker 1: So if if there's a classic pick your poison when
Speaker 1: it comes to defending an offense, this is this really
Speaker 1: is one of those. This is what I really respect
Speaker 1: about the Rams two is that they have their personnel,
Speaker 1: They have their three receivers, They have a tight end
Speaker 1: in Higbee. They have Girly Malcolm Brown. You see a
Speaker 1: little bit of him, but realistically, man, they're not disguising anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they're gonna some of their concepts will be,
Speaker 1: but you know what personnel you're gonna see. You know
Speaker 1: what kind of packages you're gonna see. The Rams are
Speaker 1: daring you to stop them. To make one more note
Speaker 1: on Girly, what I find really impressive six yards. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have a carry over thirty this year. It just
Speaker 1: shows you that a lot of this production it isn't
Speaker 1: just one big, huge carry And then that's what you know.
Speaker 1: No Pontenda carries the day for him it's just consistent production,
Speaker 1: getting in favorable second and third down situations in allowing
Speaker 1: your playmakers to make plays from there. You bring up
Speaker 1: a great stat about the receivers. I wasn't even aware
Speaker 1: of that. I did know that Cooks is among the
Speaker 1: league leaders in yards per catch in obviously Woods with
Speaker 1: six d two yards receiving. That jumps off the page.
Speaker 1: But to have three different guys leading in three different areas,
Speaker 1: that's how you draw it up. When you go back
Speaker 1: to the Packers in two thousand eleven, that's usually the
Speaker 1: comparison I usually draw with a lot of these teams.
Speaker 1: That's how you really get defensive coordinators scratching their heads
Speaker 1: because on any given week, you don't know who it
Speaker 1: could be. Yeah, if there's one thing that you latch onto,
Speaker 1: maybe as a Packer's defense. In terms of something you
Speaker 1: can try to take advantage of against this Rams offense,
Speaker 1: it's that Jared Goff has thrown five interceptions. Now, five
Speaker 1: interceptions in seven games. Not an alarming number. This is
Speaker 1: a guy who's completing about his passes. His passerrating is
Speaker 1: over a hundred and ten I believe for the season.
Speaker 1: So we're nitpicking a little bit here when you talk
Speaker 1: about him throwing five interceptions. But if the Packers can
Speaker 1: get Golf to make a mistake or two, now that
Speaker 1: comes with stopping Todd Gurley or at least or at
Speaker 1: least containing him and preventing the big plays that we've
Speaker 1: talked about, because this offense, this offense will make you
Speaker 1: pay with the big plays, the forty fifty yard explosive gains.
Speaker 1: But if the Packers can do those kinds of things,
Speaker 1: then you know, you get one or two mistakes out
Speaker 1: of Jared Goff in a crucial situation, then just maybe
Speaker 1: that's something that turns the turns the tide in your
Speaker 1: favorite Denver set the blueprint for this, I think yeah,
Speaker 1: And and the Rams were able to squeak out of victory.
Speaker 1: I think partly included in that is the fact that
Speaker 1: Denver has had a lot of issues offensively with case
Speaker 1: Keenum and you know the direction that thing's gone. But
Speaker 1: if you look at that game with Golf, fourteen completions
Speaker 1: on attempts with an interception was sacked five times, a
Speaker 1: fifty eight point eight passer rating. That usually isn't good
Speaker 1: enough to get it done. But what fortunately for the Rams,
Speaker 1: they have Girly to pick them up from there. They
Speaker 1: have a defense that's going to keep you in ball games.
Speaker 1: So there aren't a lot of ways that you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to attack them and have everything fall apart.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be able to counter you in different ways.
Speaker 1: But to your point, Mike, you do need to remember
Speaker 1: that Jared Goff is a third year quarterback. At this time,
Speaker 1: he's still only, let's see, twenty four years old. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are going to be opportunities there. They aren't going
Speaker 1: to be plentiful, but if you do get those chances,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to execute on it. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: you mentioned this defense the Rams have and I want
Speaker 1: to get to that in a minute, but quickly, we's
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Speaker 1: cousins subs. We believe in better. Okay, this Rams defense,
Speaker 1: I tell you what, there's absolutely no question at all
Speaker 1: that it starts with Aaron Donald on that defensive line.
Speaker 1: And I tell you I remember back when Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: was coming out of the University of Pittsburgh, he had
Speaker 1: won every college defensive award. I mean, you know, the Bednarik,
Speaker 1: the butt Kiss, the Lombardi or whatever. All. I don't
Speaker 1: even know the names of all of them, but all
Speaker 1: all of those, all those awards for defensive players in college,
Speaker 1: he won them all. He went to the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: He absolutely dominated everybody at the Senior Bowl. He was
Speaker 1: the star of the Week in Mobile, Alabama. And yet
Speaker 1: there were still teams that, based on his height, they
Speaker 1: did not actually think he was a first round draft pick.
Speaker 1: Credit the Rams. They nord all the rest of that noise.
Speaker 1: They took Aaron Donald in the first round. He's now
Speaker 1: the reigning defensive player of the Year in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Should mention Todd Gurley um is the reigning offensive player
Speaker 1: in the Year in the NFL as well, but Donald
Speaker 1: is the reigning defensive player of the year. He's coming
Speaker 1: off a four SAT game against the San Francisco forty Niners.
Speaker 1: He now leads the NFL with eight sacks through seven games.
Speaker 1: He's on pace for a career high. And this is
Speaker 1: a guy who has an interior defensive lineman has had
Speaker 1: double digit sacks twice already in his career. This guy is,
Speaker 1: this guy is amazing. I mean he he is. He
Speaker 1: is the focal point of any offensive game plan against
Speaker 1: this Rams defense. And the thing that's impressed about Donald
Speaker 1: He's done it since day one that he entered the league.
Speaker 1: There's never been a let up. There's never been a
Speaker 1: learning curve for him. He's just produced since the very beginning.
Speaker 1: It's actually funny that you go back and looking at
Speaker 1: there four games he didn't start his rookie year in
Speaker 1: two thousand four sort of reminds you a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think at Clay Matthews that once he did it
Speaker 1: in the lineup, the guy was just a natural born
Speaker 1: star took off. And here's the other thing too, I
Speaker 1: like questions about his height coming out of of pit.
Speaker 1: I wonder what the San Francisco forty Niners think of that, because,
Speaker 1: unfortunately for them, they've had to see a lot of
Speaker 1: him over the years, and he's been incredibly productive with
Speaker 1: another big game last week. Six pounds by any measure,
Speaker 1: that should not be a combination that makes you think
Speaker 1: defensive player of the year. And that's not a disrespectful
Speaker 1: thing to to Donald or anybody at that size. But
Speaker 1: typically height is one thing, but wait is another, like
Speaker 1: even like guys like Mike Daniels. To see Daniels isn't
Speaker 1: the tallest guy in the world, but he still is
Speaker 1: over three pounds. Donald just makes it work for him
Speaker 1: and his ability to be able to to beat these
Speaker 1: interior offensive guards and centers that are routinely twenty sometimes
Speaker 1: forty pounds heavier than him just a huge testament to
Speaker 1: him and his play style. I love I love to
Speaker 1: watch him play. It was interesting I wrote a story
Speaker 1: for on Kenny Clark about him and kind of being
Speaker 1: able to pick up where he left off from last season.
Speaker 1: Clark right now is third in the league monkst defensive
Speaker 1: tackles for snaps played at a little over Donald actually
Speaker 1: leads the league right now in that category, just under ninety.
Speaker 1: He does it from beginning to end. His motor does
Speaker 1: not stop. It's impressive to watch man. Yeah, well, and
Speaker 1: what the Rams have done on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. Donald was a first round pick the year
Speaker 1: he came out, and he is the centerpiece of that defense.
Speaker 1: But the rest of it they've kind of built through
Speaker 1: free agency. They've signed and Dominican sue to uh to
Speaker 1: kind of pair with Aaron Donald on the interior of
Speaker 1: the defensive line, and both of those guys will move
Speaker 1: around and line up in different spots, but essentially they're
Speaker 1: that defensive line tandem. Um. They picked up Marcus Peters,
Speaker 1: a key to leave at cornerback. Now to leave is
Speaker 1: on injured reserve, but but you've got Peters. Obviously. They
Speaker 1: signed Sam Shields, who has come back from essentially missing
Speaker 1: two entire seasons due to his multiple concussions in his career.
Speaker 1: Great to see Shields back out there playing again. The
Speaker 1: Packers will Packers will probably see him a fair amount,
Speaker 1: perhaps on Sunday after But they've they they've built this
Speaker 1: defense by by sort of plucking different guys from around
Speaker 1: the league and uh and and plugging them in and
Speaker 1: it's working. I mean, obviously, you can't argue with the
Speaker 1: fact that that they're undefeated. There have been some teams
Speaker 1: who have racked up some yards and some points. Minnesota
Speaker 1: had a big offensive game against these guys on a
Speaker 1: on a Thursday night, we saw both the Seattle and
Speaker 1: the Denver. Bronco is not known for explosive offense, so
Speaker 1: to speak, but they scored enough points to stay right
Speaker 1: in the game with these guys and take them down
Speaker 1: to the wire as well. So u um an impressive defense.
Speaker 1: But yet there are some areas statistically where where they
Speaker 1: have they have some numbers that don't necessarily look like
Speaker 1: an undefeated team. Yeah, and I mean it is something
Speaker 1: to where when you put up the offensive yards that
Speaker 1: their offense puts up there, your defense is going to
Speaker 1: give up yards too, because a lot of offenses are
Speaker 1: gonna be put in you know, two minute situations. So um.
Speaker 1: But that being said, they have guys who can take
Speaker 1: away the ball. They have guys that can pressure your quarterback. Uh,
Speaker 1: they have different as I'm mentioned earlier, they have different
Speaker 1: ways to win. If it ends up being a game
Speaker 1: in the twenties of the teens, they have a defense
Speaker 1: that can keep them in it, that can get him
Speaker 1: on the positive side of that. Uh what what it's
Speaker 1: probably impressed me more than anything. I mean, it's one
Speaker 1: thing to go get Brandon Cooks or to get Marcus Peters,
Speaker 1: and and obviously what happened coming out of Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I've been probably more impressed over the years and how
Speaker 1: they've augmented their roster offense and defensive by finding I
Speaker 1: don't want to call them cast offs, but finding the
Speaker 1: Robert Woods is finding the Mark Barrens, who sort of
Speaker 1: appeared to be on the outskirts of his career and then,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, the Rams were able to use
Speaker 1: him in a hybrid role. Was sort of on the
Speaker 1: cutting edge of that. It has been there now for
Speaker 1: a number of years in making plays. The Sam Shields
Speaker 1: one was a little different. I mean, I made my
Speaker 1: opinion very clear on Shields in the past. I he's
Speaker 1: a tremendous person. I've enjoyed my time covering on my
Speaker 1: wish for nothing but the best for him in the future.
Speaker 1: I would be lying to you if I told you
Speaker 1: I still didn't watch his games with bated breath. But
Speaker 1: the fact that he's been able to come back, he
Speaker 1: always had the legs, dude, I mean, like the Packers
Speaker 1: when he left Green Bay. It wasn't that he couldn't
Speaker 1: pluy a on the field. I mean, it's not that
Speaker 1: he'd lost his ability. He has gifts that you cannot
Speaker 1: coach in this league. So I wish nothing but success
Speaker 1: for him. We'll see how this game plays out, obviously,
Speaker 1: but the Rams are deep in their deep at number
Speaker 1: of positions and shields. Insertion at cornerback is is another
Speaker 1: one of those spots. Yeah, the one thing to look
Speaker 1: at statistically, maybe a couple of things going into this
Speaker 1: game with this Rams defense. You know, as I say,
Speaker 1: you're trying to nitpick against an undefeated team and trying
Speaker 1: to find maybe where the chinks in the armor are.
Speaker 1: A couple of things where they rank in the bottom
Speaker 1: third of the league defensively. One is actually yards per
Speaker 1: carry allowed by opposing running games. They don't allow a
Speaker 1: lot of rushing yards total because teams are throwing the
Speaker 1: ball like crazy to try to keep up with that offense.
Speaker 1: But when teams do run the ball, the yards per
Speaker 1: carry it's it's rather productive. They aren't great in that statistic.
Speaker 1: And the other one is third down. Their third down
Speaker 1: defense does actually rank quite a bit lower than the
Speaker 1: bulk of the league. So when you look at all
Speaker 1: these things the pa Kers have been talking about over
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, over the bye week about
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to find more run pass balance, needing,
Speaker 1: needing to be better in situational football, particularly third down,
Speaker 1: red zone. We know the third downs. For the Packers,
Speaker 1: it comes down to the down and distance. Because Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers pointed out the other day the Packers have had
Speaker 1: in in six games, they've had twenty two third downs
Speaker 1: of eleven plus yards. That's an unbelievable number, it really is.
Speaker 1: That's an area the Packers need to need to fix,
Speaker 1: and and getting the running game going is one way
Speaker 1: to help fix that. Yeah, absolutely have to do it
Speaker 1: early too. They have to be able to establish that.
Speaker 1: They got to stay in with pace with the Rams.
Speaker 1: They can't fall behind. I think that's gonna be the
Speaker 1: big thing here because the way that Los Angeles is structured,
Speaker 1: they don't really allow teams to get back in it
Speaker 1: once they blow them out. When you're in it with them.
Speaker 1: They've had a lot of games down to the wire.
Speaker 1: You mentioned some of their stats. It's reflected in their scores.
Speaker 1: They've been able to squeak out some two and three
Speaker 1: point victories this season. So for the Packers, we talked
Speaker 1: about it every week, but getting off to a fast start,
Speaker 1: being able to establish that early on, and honestly, Mike,
Speaker 1: I'm just excited too to see Aaron Rodgers back to
Speaker 1: back for yard games offense right now, fourth in the league,
Speaker 1: Packers have been able to move to football. This will
Speaker 1: be a nice little challenge to see if they can
Speaker 1: do it in the coliseum. Yeah. Well, we've got a
Speaker 1: couple of more days to talk about the keys to
Speaker 1: victory here for the Packers, and we'll get to those
Speaker 1: as the week goes on, but for now, we'll call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script,
Speaker 1: and be sure to follow all of our coverage of
Speaker 1: the team on Packers dot Com on Twitter. He's at
Speaker 1: west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the
Speaker 1: team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you
Speaker 1: next time.